6 Instagram Story Strategies That Will Grow Your Following By implementing these strategies, you can boost your brand's presence, connect with your audience, and achieve your marketing goals.
By Dmitrii Khasanov Edited by Micah Zimmerman
Key Takeaways
- Instagram stories are a great chance for brands to connect with their target audience, and there are many ways to increase ROI.
- Approach the platform strategically and creatively to stand out and make a meaningful impact.
Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.
Instagram has become indispensable to any business's digital marketing strategy, boasting over 1.3 billion active users, 3.76 billion daily visits and 500 million daily story users. This platform provides a substantial opportunity for businesses to engage with their target audience and enhance their return on investment (ROI). Despite its popularity, the competitive environment on Instagram can make it challenging for brands to stand out and make a significant impact.
As more retail brands seek attention on the platform, standing out and making a meaningful impact can be challenging. Social media managers and marketers can employ several strategies to scale reach and, consequently, enhance ROI on Instagram. How? Let's figure it out together.
The initial crucial step is to establish clear goals for your business to maximize the return on investment of Instagram stories. Define what you aim to achieve with Stories — driving more traffic to your website, increasing brand engagement, or generating buzz around the brand. Understanding your objectives, target audience, and engagement strategy is paramount. Create specific and measurable goals for each campaign, breaking them down into manageable steps to track success.
For instance, if your goal is to gain more followers, set a realistic target, such as reaching 10,000 in the next six months, by targeting individuals interested in your business, brand, category, or industry. It's extremely important to set achievable goals, allowing you to celebrate milestones as you reach them.
So, what is the magic behind maximizing your ROI? Unfortunately, there are no special secrets or hidden formulas; all a business can do is focus on producing quality content and continually test new approaches. However, these strategies might accelerate the performance of your stories.
Related: 3 Ways to Use Instagram Stories to Boost Your Brand
1. Provide more information
Instagram provides a unique way to boost your brand and turn visitors into buyers effortlessly by using the "swipe up" feature. Simply add an attractive image and a call to action and invite your audience to visit a link. When people swipe up on your Instagram Story, they'll be directed to the page you want them to explore. It's a simple yet effective way to engage and potentially convert your audience.
2. Show that you are live
Live stories have a unique appeal as they draw your audience in by sending automatic notifications to your followers. When you decide to go live, generating buzz and excitement around something happening at the moment is essential. In this case, your business may create a sense of urgency and encourage active participation from your audience.
Related: How Instagram Stories and Instagram Live Help You Interact with Your Customers
3. Storytelling still rocks
Creating visual stories on Instagram is powerful for building brand awareness. Visuals are more engaging than text, effectively reaching a broader audience. With its focus on visuals, storytelling on Instagram helps build an emotional connection with viewers and sparks their curiosity to learn more about your brand. Through this approach, you can convey your brand's story and values compellingly, strengthening your connection with the audience.
4. Collaborate with influencers
Influencer marketing campaigns have the potential to boost brand awareness and drive sales growth significantly. While reaching out to influencers directly on Instagram is an option, I would recommend using an influencer marketplace for more efficient and timely discovery of the best influencers for your campaign. Remember that you do not need to collaborate with celebrities and Instagram superstars; instead, consider micro and nano influencers as they make waves in 2024.
Related: How Many Followers Do You Need To Make Money on Instagram?
5. Do not be afraid of paid advertising
Instagram's advertising platform is a potent tool for expanding your brand's reach and engagement on the platform. With the average user spending 30 minutes daily on Instagram and 63% of American users checking the platform at least once a day, it offers a strategic means to maximize your ROI and attract attention to your paid content. Consistent posting plays a crucial role in increasing visibility. The more frequently you post, the higher the likelihood of appearing in the Explore feed, being featured on other accounts, or ranking highly in searches for keywords and hashtags you commonly use. Establishing a regular posting cadence is essential to maintaining audience interest. Posting consistently every week has the potential to double your followers compared to those who post less frequently than once a week.
6. Ask your followers and get engagement
Remember that marketing is about understanding your audience's likes and dislikes, and Instagram Stories can help you learn more about them. Creating polls and asking questions in your stories prompts users to interact by clicking on them. These interactions provide valuable insights that can improve your business and marketing strategies. You can also use these features to effectively advertise new products, making it a versatile tool for engaging with your audience and conducting market research.
